“I think I know where some of these places are. I’ll round up the others. Lola–” He glanced Magda. “Stay.”
“No,” Magda said. “Go – I don’t need a babysitter.”
“But–” he started to protest.
“Go, I’ll be fine,” the old witch insisted.
“Mags, I’ll stay. You need...”
“I need peace. I can’t have any with you hovering over me.”
Lola glanced at Ronan, who nodded. “Take care, Magda.” He squeezed her shoulder.
“There’s still life in this old girl yet, my boy.”
Ronan, Lola, Josh and the others all split up after he gave them directions.
He kept hold of the map and headed straight for the centre of the pentacle.
The point on the map was a place surrounded by a grove of oak trees.
Since the map was over twenty years old he knew it would be difficult to find the exact spot. So much had changed on the island over the past few decades and a lot would have changed in two hundred years since the island’s creation.
As he neared the exact spot Ronan froze. Up ahead loomed the Stargaza mansion.
Energy rippled around it from the invisible ward.
He muttered a curse. He’d never get near the power source. Oren would do everything he could to keep them away from it. Maybe someone already inside could.
Christy? he called, reaching out who is in mind.
He waited to feel her familiar presence at the edge of his mind. His wolf stood up, expecting, eager.
She didn’t respond.
Christy? Answer me. He’d been worried ever since she’d ended their brief conversation earlier when Oren had found her. Worried turned to panic.
Christy? Ronan sent out the call, demanding she answer him.
Why couldn’t he feel her? Any wolf could sense their mate, no matter where they were. But no reply came.
Chapter 10
Christy paced up and down her room, feeling like she’d go mad if she stayed trapped in there much longer. Time was running out. She had less than a day to figure out what the hell Oren had planned the full moon.
Think! I need a way out. Blasting the door with magic had done no good and the windows were sealed shut too.
What about passageway? Would Oren’s spell have affected that too?
Christy glanced around, she suspected Oren had put eyes on her but she’d have to risk it. She had to get out and find a way back to the Outland and get back to Ronan. Maybe together they could figure out what their next move was.
Pressing the wall, it swung open. She closed it behind her and hurried down the passageway, brushing cobwebs of her face as she went. Moving away from the upper floor she ascended a spiral stone staircase up to the attic which had once been the servant’s quarters. Her father had used it to house unwanted furniture, boxes and piles of junk. Christy pushed the attic door open, relieved to find no guards waiting for her. As much as she wanted to get back to Ronan, she decided to have a look around first and left the hidden door open. What am I looking for? she wondered.
All she knew was she couldn’t stay sitting around in her room any longer. She had to do something. She didn’t know how long she had before they realised she’d vanished and would come looking for her.
Christy pulled open one of the wooden boxes. Her mother had to have written something down about the curse and how she planned to end it. Even if she hadn’t had all the necessary ingredients.
Chris, finally! It’s me. I think I found something, Ronan told her, breathing a sigh of relief. I went back to my parents’ house and found my mum’s spell book. Why couldn’t I sense you earlier?
I’m sorry, I blocked you in case Oren managed to listen in on us. Brilliant! She clapped her hands together. What is it?
One part of the book talks about the spell they were going to use, but it won’t do us much good. Magda said even with the necessary ingredients it wouldn’t have worked, he said.
Then why did Oren kill them? Christy said. It doesn’t make any sense. She rifled through the boxes, found one marked “Olivia” and wrenched it open. Inside lay dozens of books. She flipped one open, saw spells written on each page.
Christy sat down, studied each book.
Found anything? Ronan’s voice made her jump. She’d almost forgotten they were still connected.
Not yet, I… Her voice trailed off. Ro, I found a spell.
To break the curse?
No, to recover lost memories.
What good will that do? he asked, incredulous.
Maybe show me what happened when I was kidnapped fifteen years ago. My kidnapping is still connected to all of this, I can feel it. Someone used me to try and break the curse. Maybe it will help us now.
Chris, I don’t like this. I should be there with you. She heard the edge in Ronan’s voice. When something goes wrong?
You are with me. Christy touched her chest, feeling the invisible connection between them.
I meant physically, Ronan added.
I’ll be fine, just keep everyone safe. We’ll be together again soon, love.
She lit a candle she’d found inside the box and settled down on the dusty floor. Christy said the spell and waited for something to happen. Magic still felt strange to her. Her inner wolf whined, sensing her unease.
She tried blocking out the memories the so long, now she’d have to relive them.
Her eyes snapped shut as the attic around her faded. Her younger self sat huddled in a dark corner. Cold crept into her bones, making her shiver as she wrapped her arms around herself.
A figure stood a few feet away. A man with his back to her. He smelt of wood smoke and the tang of metal.
She knew that scent.
Oren.
The shock almost jolted Christy out of the memory but she remained focused. It didn’t surprise her now.
“What are you doing?” Her younger self squeaked.
“Hush!” he barked at her.
Christy shivered again. She wanted to get out of there, to go home. Her father would be furious at her for running off. Light began to glow around the room, bathing in an eerie blue glow. The younger Christy’s body rose into the air. More light surged up from the ground beneath them. Then just as quickly the light vanished.
Oren screamed out a curse. “No! Why didn’t it work?” he cried. “It should have worked!”
He spun around, his hot gaze fixing on her. “What did you do?” He yanked her up by the collar of her dress.
“I didn’t do anything!” The younger Christy whimpered. “Please, I just want to go home. Let me go.”
Oren’s gaze bored into her. “Why didn’t it work?” he repeated. “That spell should have tapped into the power that fuels the curse. You’re immune to it, why didn’t it work?”
The younger Christy shook her head, not understanding what he meant as tears leaked down her face. He shook her, repeating the same question over and over again. “Why didn’t it work?”
Christy had no idea what he meant either. Did he want to end the curse?
Oren shoved her back to the ground, muttered more words of power and gripped a glowing crystal in his palm. This time light rose out of her body, forming into a glowing blue portal. Oren grinned, stretching out his arm as he reached inside the portal. The face of a woman appeared in the glowing light. He reached for her. “Lily?” he gasped.
The portal fell away shattering and dissolving into nothingness.
The younger Christy scrambled up, stumbling over to the doorway as pain wracked through her body. Bone cracked and muscle popped as she shifted into a small white wolf. She lay there on the ground, panting, felt oblivion closing in around her.
Chapter 11
Christy sighed as she tossed another one of Magda’s books aside and glanced over at Mal through the glowing crystal ball she’d managed to recover from Magda’s room. Oren hadn’t let her near him again and had sealed her inside her bedroom.
This wa
s the last day to stop the curse before the blue moon that coming night.
She spoke to Ronan when she could, but neither of them had any idea how to stop the curse or whatever else Oren had planned for them. Calling Magda had proved useless too since Ronan said she was too weak to do anything.
Ronan had sent her an image of the map he’d found in his mum’s book but it made little sense to her. What did Oren want? She kept coming back to Liliana, but no magic could revive the dead. She drew a rough image of the map on a piece of paper then gasped. Ro? Ro, answer me!
What is it? Ronan asked.
I’ve been thinking about what Oren’s endgame is. What if it has nothing to do with the curse? she said. What if it’s about revenge?
Did he already get that by killing Adrian?
No, he spent centuries trying to set the clans against each other. What if he wants to kill all shifters? Christy said. He blames us what happened to Lily and from what we know about the island it some kind of power source. Maybe he’d have enough power to do that tonight.
An alpha has power over all shifters, maybe he could use you – us to kill every shifter in existence, Ronan mused. Christy, you need to get out there.
I can’t. He has me trapped. My magic isn’t working, she told him. If I leave he’ll kill my brother.
Ronan muttered a curse. We can do this. The others and I will get to Mal, then you. Just hold on.
Christy watched the clock as the hours passed away. She felt her eyelids drooping. When she opened them again, the blue moon had already risen high in the sky, its bright blue rays sparkled like an ethereal beacon over the island.
“No, what time is it?” She grabbed the crystal ball.
No image of Malic appeared. What the hell had they done with her brother?
Alec came in, tossed a long white gown onto her bed. “Get dressed. You need to look presentable as my bride.”
She snorted. “I’m bonded to Ronan. You’d have to kill me before I ever let you touch me.” Two Imperious guards came in and grabbed her.
The guards dragged Christy outside where a large circle had been drawn, making the shape of a pentacle.
Alec stood beside Oren. This was it.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said to Oren. “I know how much you loved Lily, but killing every shifter on the island isn’t going to avenge her death. Women die in childbirth, whether they are witch, human, or shifter.”
Oren backhanded her so hard Christy fell into the centre of the circle. Light flashed around her, feeling her inside it. “Fool, it wasn’t nature that killed her. It was your kind,” he snarled.
“She loved her people. Would killing us have been what she wanted?” She scrambled up into a sitting position.
“She didn’t know what she wanted. But now that will change.” He began to chart words of power.
Christy gasped, feeling pain begin to tear through her body. She screamed as her body was wrenched apart, light began leaking out of her and pouring into the circle.
“What are you doing?” Alec demanded. “You said you would make her my mate.”
Oren laughed, silver flashed as he knifed Alec in the throat. “Fool, a bond can’t be broken. You’re no alpha, you were just a means to an end.”
A how rang out as dozens of wolves swarmed in, taking on the imperious shifters. Alec’s men stared, unsure of what to do as the outsiders and Stargaza Wolves ran together.
Ronan! Christy screamed his name. She clutched her stomach, more light leaking from her body as Oren drained away her power.
The circle lit up.
A giant red wolf leapt at Oren, bouncing off the warlock’s invisible shield.
Christy felt power rising up from the ground beneath her. She lay there, paralysed, watching as her mate fought to get her but to no avail. She was going to die, she could feel it. Christy clamped her eyes shut. She didn’t want to die, didn’t want to lose the people she loved.
“Christy?” someone called her name. “Christy, come to me, child.”
No, I won’t go. I won’t leave Ronan or my people behind. She felt herself floating away, saw herself leaving her body behind, heard Ronan’s anguished cry.
Light exploded around the circle as a portal appeared. Christy didn’t care as her spirit drifted into the clouds.
Magda appeared beside her.
Christy gasped, looking down at the flowing white gown she now wore. “Am I dead?” she murmured. “Are you dead too, Magda?”
“No, you’re not dead. Oren is using you to open a portal by channelling the power of a witch and an alpha,” Magda said. “The same thing used to use the island’s power source to fuel the curse. Without shifter magic, Oren could never tap into their power or the island’s source.”
“I saw a portal. He doesn’t want to kill us, he wants Liliana, doesn’t he?”
Magda nodded. “By tapping into the island, he is cracking the fabric of time, so he can go back to save her and change history,” the witch said. “You can’t let that happen. I’ve protected this island and its secrets all my life. Now you must take my place. With the last of my power, I’ll send you back too.”
“You’re not coming back with me, are you?” Christy realised, heart aching.
“You must stop Oren. Time cannot be changed. Remember that.”
Christy saw light glowing around her, felt her body pulling her back. “I love you, Magda.”
The old woman smiled. “I love you too, child.”
Christy’s eyes snapped open as she found herself lying back in the circle and scrambled up. She turned her attention to the smiling warlock. She shoved the guards away from her and fired an energy ball at him.
He blocked it.
She felt energy vibrating beneath her feet. This was it. The power source.
Ronan and Alec, both in wolf forms, snarled and clashed. This was what Oren wanted. Not the power of an alpha, but the power of the alpha’s island.
Another blast of power sent her staggering backwards. She winced, pain reverberating through every nerve ending.
Alec had Ronan on the ground, jaws clamped around his throat.
Christy felt her own power waning, felt darkness threatening to pull her under. But she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Not like this. Not now.
White fur blurred as a white Stargaza wolf leapt over the bodies of fallen shifters and flew at Oren. The old man screamed as the wolf locked jaws around his throat. Malic. Christy’s heart stopped when she recognised her brother.
Christy scrambled up, raised her hands as power surged around the circle. This was it. The power that cursed her kind by the light of the blue moon. She felt the moon’s pull, saw the fallen crystal a few feet away. She grabbed it and raised her arm, light radiated, shooting back into the earth.
“No!” Oren screamed, blasting Malic away from him.
She winced as Malic fell to the ground, shifting back into his human form.
Lightning shot from her hand, striking Oren in the chest. He clutched his chest, slumped to the ground, dead.
Christy fell to her knees beside her brother and cradled his head in her lap. “Mal? Mal!” Blood gurgled from his mouth as he stared at her.
“Christy?” Ronan shifted and hurried over to her.
Alec laid it a few feet away from them, his cold dead eyes staring back at them.
She drew magic as tears fell down her cheeks. “Don’t worry, Mal. I’m going to save you.”
“You’re – the alpha now,” Mal rasped.
She raised her hand to draw magic that wouldn’t come. “I can’t do this without you.”
Yes, you can. You’ve always had in you. You saved our people. Malic’s eyes fluttered closed.
Ronan wrapped an arm around her and held her while she wept.
Epilogue
Christy stared out as the sun rose over the alpha’s island. A new day brought new hope. Smoke filled the air from where they burned the bodies of the dead. Magda was gone now, too. Her heart
ached from losing so many people, but they hadn’t lost everything.
She raised her hand, dropping the spell that had hidden the island away for so long.
“Are you sure about this?” Ronan asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “It’s a lot to let humans know about us.”
“My father and the other clans drove away so many people. I want this place to be a real home to all shifters. One clan.” She smiled. “Led by two alphas.”
They still had a lot of work ahead of them, but at least they had each other to move forward and bring the clans into a new time of peace.
She snuggled closer to him, feeling a renewed sense of hope. Hope for them, hope for the future, hope for every shifter out there.
The end.
Afterword
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading The Alpha’s Curse
I hope you enjoyed this book. I’d love it if you could post a review about it on Amazon or another book site. Getting reviews for my books gives me a big thrill and I look forward to hearing what you thought. Perhaps you can mention who your favourite character was and which parts you liked best.
For updates and news about my books signup for my author newsletter and get a free gift at tiffanyshand.com/newsletter
I look forward to hearing from you.
Tiffany Shand.
Excerpt from Betrayed By Blood
Kaylan Avilion sat down on the heavy tree branch, using the leaves to cover her presence. The wind whipped through the low hanging branches, blocking her view behind a leafy curtain. She gripped one of her knives and hacked through the foliage until she had clear sight again. Yellow light poured out of the window, casting eerie shadows through the well-tended garden.
“What did that tree ever do to you?” Geth murmured in her ear.
She glanced down, spotted her friend crouched by a hedge. “I could hack off parts of you instead,” she offered. “I’m sure Freya would thank me for it.”
“Freya and I are taking a break. That’s all.”
The Alpha's Curse: Shifter Clans Series Book 3 Page 5